China shares climb, developers lend support

China stocks extended their New Year rally on Friday, underpinned by robust gains in real estate firms.

At 04:02 GMT, the Shanghai Composite index was up 7.95 points or 0.23 per cent at 3,393.66.

The blue-chip CSI300 index was up 0.24 per cent, with its financial sector sub-index higher by 0.61 per cent, the consumer staples sector down 0.4 per cent, reports Reuters.

The real estate index added 4.77 per cent and healthcare sub-index up 0.14 per cent.

The yuan was quoted at 6.4812 per US dollar, 0.2 per cent firmer than the previous close of 6.494.

The largest percentage losses in the Shanghai index were Shanghai Jiaoda Onlly Co Ltd down 10.04 per cent, followed by SJEC Corp losing 8.25 per cent and BOCO Inter-Telecom Co Ltd down by 5.05 per cent.

So far this year, the Shanghai stock index is up 2.37 per cent, while China’s H-share index is up 4.2 per cent. Shanghai stocks have risen 2.37 per cent this month.

The top gainers among H-shares were China Vanke Co Ltd up 7.25 per cent, followed by China Petroleum & Chemical Corp gaining 2.12 per cent and China Railway Group Ltd up by 1.86 per cent.

About 11.58 billion shares have traded so far on the Shanghai exchange, roughly 75.8 per cent of the market’s 30-day moving average of 15.28 billion shares a day.